Copa del Rey sets sail

Spain's top regatta gets underway today

Eleven Transpac 52s, ten of whom participated in the Breitling Regatta last week, plus the latest addition to the fleet, Balearia, will take to the waters of Mallorca for the 24th Copa del Rey-Agua Brava, which begins today out of the Real Club Naútico de Palma.

The Copa del Rey-Agua Brava, Spain's top regatta will see more than 100 yachts participating including the IMS 500, 600, 670 Classes as well as the new Transpac 52 fleet.

The regatta will include all the normal stars, from Russell Coutts and Paul Cayard, but on this occasion it will be Cayard who is joined by the Emirates Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker on Atalanti XV, while Olympic medallist Toño Gorostegui will sail the new Bottin & Carkeek designed Balearia and Tornado Olympian Santiago Lange will be on Bambakou. Top Spanish yachtsman Pedro Campos will this time be sailing with Vasco Vascotto on the series leader, now called Pisco Sour-Movistar.

On board Balearia, four time winner of this event, Toño Gorostegui, holds considerable local knowledge which could be key in this competition. The Balearia team are currently working to get the boat into optimum condition for the races. “I am very happy with the boat,” comments Gorostegui, “We have been training out on the race course over the past few days, and the boat seems to be responding well in light wind conditions. It’s been tough, but the boat is almost optimised to race now.” Among the latest additions to his crew is tactician Santiago López-Vázquez, who also as part of the Spanish Desafío Español America’s Cup team.

Caixa Galicia, owned by Spaniard Vicente Tirado, also knows what it feels like to win the Copa del Rey, having won the event on three occasions in different classes. This time Tirado has a clear ambition: “Our aim is to win the Copa del Rey”, he says. “We are not really concerned at this stage with the overall results. There are still a lot of points to be won, and we won’t focus on the circuit itself until after the Copa del Rey. Our philosophy is to approach the circuit event by event.” The owner of Caixa Galicia adds: “The Copa del Rey is a very important event, but I don’t think it will be decisive in terms of the Breitling MedCup. The class is very equal, and things can change at any time, as the level of competition in the class is truly extraordinary.”

Today and tomorrow the event kicks off with windward-leewards, followed by the offshore race on Wednesday of approxiately 100 miles - the boats are not expected to arrive back from this until the early hours of Thursday morning. The rest of the week will comprise windward-leewards on Friday and Sunday and a coastal race on the Saturday.

Overall results in the Breitling MedCup circuit

1 PISCO SOUR-Movistar 147
2 LEXUS QUANTUM 139
3 CAIXA GALICIA 134
4 BRIBON 112
5 ORLANDA 111
6 BAMBAKOU 105
7 ATALANTI XV 102
8 CRISTABELLA 67
9 AIFOS 49
10 SIEMENS 13